This application claims priority of Korea patent Application No. 2000-70375, filed on Nov. 24, 2000.
The present invention relates to a tailgate latch for vehicles, and more particularly to a tailgate latch for vehicles constructed in simple structure for reduction in the number of parts and assembling processes, thereby decreasing manufacturing cost, improving operational reliability and easing key manipulation.
Generally, a door of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as door) is equipped with a door latch for maintaining a closed state and for releasing the closed state to enable the door to be opened. Leisure and sports vehicles such as sports utility vehicles (SUV) and the like are also mounted with latches to their rear doors of tailgates.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a latch at a tailgate is equipped with a base plate 10 formed with a bend piece 11 and stoppers 12 and 13, a housing 20 disposed underneath the base plate 10 for providing an inlet to a striker 21 and for protecting latch parts and for mounting a latch to the tailgate, a bell crank 30 for rotatably being mounted on the base plate 10 via a rivet 40 and formed with a round pin 31 and a press pin 32, a return spring 41 mounted on the rivet 40 while respectively secured at both ends thereof to the bend piece 11 of the base plate 10 and to the bell crank 30 for pushing the bell crank 30 toward the stopper 12, a latch plate 50 rotatably formed at the base plate 10 via a rivet 42 while constructed with an upper piece 51, a middle piece 52 and a lower piece 53 where the middle piece 52 is defined by a round pin 54 pressed by the press piece 32 of the bell crank 30 and the lower piece 53 is formed with a bend 55, a return spring 43 having both ends each connected to the bend piece 55 of the latch plate 50 and to inner wall surface of the housing and pulling the latch plate 50 toward a direction where the upper piece 51 is brought into contact with the stopper 13, a key cylinder 60 connected to the round pin 31 of the bell crank 30 and formed with a rotary arm 61 for supplying an action force, an actuator 70 mounted at the base plate 10 and formed with a rotary piece 71 for rotary action with supplied power, and a rod 72 for connecting the rotary piece 71 of the actuator 70 with the upper piece 51 of the latch plate 50.
When a key is inserted into the key cylinder 60 and to be rotated, the rotary arm 61 is rotated to clockwise rotate the bell crank 30 and the press piece 32 presses the round pin 54 at the latch plate 50, such that the latch plate 50 is counterclockwise rotated to be introduced through a downward opening of the housing 20, where the striker 21 hitched at the latch plate 50 is released from restriction to open the tailgate.
Successively, when the key is pulled out of the key cylinder 60, the latch plate 50 is clockwise rotated by the return spring 43 to return to an original position while the bell crank 30 is also returned to its original position by action where the round pin 54 of the latch plate 50 pushes the press piece 32 and simultaneously by action of the return spring 41 at the bell crank 30.
Meanwhile, the actuator 70 is operated by switch manipulation of a driver, where, when a switch is turned on, the rotary piece 71 at the actuator 70 is rotated counterclockwise to pull the rod 72, whereby the latch plate 50 is rotated counterclockwise as pressed by the bell crank 30 to release the restricted state of the striker 21, thereby operating the tailgate, where return action of the latch plate 50 is made to occur by way of the return spring 43 as described above.
However, there is a problem in the tailgate latch thus described according to the prior art in that the stoppers 12 and 13 are respectively formed at the base plate 10 for restricting the return position of the bell crank 30 and the latch plate 50 and the bend piece 11 is formed for disposition of the return spring 41 at the bell crank 30, complicating shapes of the base plate 10 while, even though the stoppers 12 and 13 are respectively covered by cushioning rubber covers 14 for alleviating shock when the bell crank 30 and the latch plate 50 are returned, and the bell crank 30 is automatically returned by the return of the latch plate 50 during return operation, the return spring 41 is additionally used to increase the number of parts, thereby increasing the number of assembling process and manufacturing cost.
There is another problem in that the return operation of the bell crank 30 is not properly realized due to decreased durability strength of the return spring 41 at the bell crank 30, thereby resulting in a poor return operation of the latch plate 50 and abnormal operation of the latch.
There is still another problem in that reaction force of the return spring 41 at the bell crank 30 is generated in addition to that of the return spring 43 at the latch plate 50, thereby calling for more power for manipulating the key.
The present invention is disclosed to solve the aforementioned problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a tailgate latch for vehicles constructed free of bend piece and stoppers for bell crank to simplify the shape of a base plate, thereby reducing the number of rubber covers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tailgate latch for vehicles constructed free of return spring to reduce the number of overall parts and the number of assembling process and manufacturing cost, thereby eliminating abnormal operation of latch due to improper operation of return spring for bell crank.
There is still another object of the present invention to provide a tailgate latch for vehicles constructed free of return spring for bell crank to reduce a key manipulating force.
In accordance with one object of the present invention there is provided a tailgate latch for vehicles, the latch comprising:
a bell crank having a slot; and
a latch plate having a pin movably inserted in the slot and formed to be releasably coupled to a striker mounted at a body of the vehicle, wherein the latch further comprising:
a base plate;
a bell crank rotatably mounted to the base plate;
a return spring for returning the latch plate to its original position;
a key cylinder having a rotary arm for rotating the bell crank; and
an actuator having a rotary piece connected to the latch plate via a rod for rotating the latch plate.